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| Seroberto Moreno demonstrates his traffic signal project. |
Hosted by the City of Lewisburg Industrial Development Board, the Marshall Co. Chamber of Commerce and the Marshall Co. Joint Economic and Community Development Board welcomed several industry representatives and their families to the event along with local and state officials, community leaders and representatives from the education and training fields in the region.
The highlight of the dinner focused on training the next generation of workforce as students from the Spot Lowe Technology Center and the TCAT-Shelbyville satellite program of Lewisburg.
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| Matthew Bragdon and Tyler Woodard demonstrate their project on "Cal Sonic" the Calsonic Kansei North America robot |
The Spot Lowe Technology Center in Lewisburg trains middle and high school students in varies occupational fields from cosmetology to residential wiring and automotive technology to welding. It even offers a pre-engineering program and programs in the health sciences.
But for local industries in Lewisburg and Marshall County, the Spot Lowe Technology Center's programs that focus on manufacturing-related training is crucial and key to future workforce quality.
During the dinner, two students, Matthew Bragdon and Tyler Woodard, presented a demonstration on one of their projects - creating a robot for Calsonic Kansei North America. The robot, named "Cal Sonic", has been used by the company to teach students in Marshall County from elementary to high school what Calsonic does and their careers available.
The two students, under the instruction of Danny Adams at Spot Lowe, used parts that CKNA of Lewisburg manufactures to build the robot that features a TV screen for a chest where a video about CKNA played.
Seroberto Moreno, a Spot Lowe graduate, is currently a student at the TCAT-Shelbyville facility off the square in downtown Lewisburg where he is training in Industrial Maintenance and Safety under the instruction of Mike Foster. The satellite facility came to Lewisburg as part of the state's LEAP grant program where regions competed for grants to begin programs of training.
Seroberto, or 'Berto to most people, demonstrated his project on creating a traffic signal using his learning of PLC - programmable logic controller. 'Berto walked the audience through the design of the traffic signal and then demonstrated how the sequences of the lights turning from green, yellow to red worked based on the PLC.
Though the event was held to honor all the manufacturers in Marshall County, a few were recognized for their good works or investments in the community over the past year.
Old Hickory Smokehouse receive the Expansion of the Year award for their growth in the past year from 80 employees to 220. Southern Carton received the Mayors Award for Beautification in recognition of the company's improvements to its facility and another facility next door that the company purchased and greatly enhanced.
Calsonic Kansei North America, Lewisburg Printing, Talos Engineering and Walker Die Casting each received recognition as Community Leaders. CKNA has hosted several community enhancement events and recently donated $200,000 to improvements in the City's Rock Creek Park downtown. Lewisburg Printing has provided printing services for the City and County over the years and recently assisted in the printing of tourism brochures for the county and a calendar for the city in honor of the late Tommy Hawkins. Talos Engineering provided the city with a pair of beautiful bicycle racks currently located at Lewisburg City Hall and Rock Creek Park. And Walker Die Casting has for many years donated funding to a variety of local events and projects along with serving as the second largest employer in the manufacturing sector.
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| Old Hickory Smokehouse received the Expansion of the Year award. Pictured are Greg Lowe of Lewisburg ECD and Wayne A. Wolf of Old Hickory Smokehouse. |
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| Southern Carton received the Mayor's Award on Beautification. Pictured are Greg Lowe of Lewisburg ECD and Dave Kennedy of Southern Carton. |
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| Calsonic Kansei North America received the Community Leadership Award. Pictured are Greg Lowe of Lewisburg ECD and Keith Wells of CKNA. |
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| Lewisburg Printing received the Community Leadership Award. Pictured are Greg Lowe of Lewisburg ECD and Cathy Talley of Lewisburg Printing. |
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| Walker Die Casting received the Community Leadership Award. Pictured are Greg Lowe of Lewisburg ECD and Tommy Harris of Walker Die Casting. |
